AJBangkok
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Posts posted by AJBangkok
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The government should leave the taxi registration period open similar to what they did in Bangkok in the 90's. Within a year of Bangkok doing that the backbone of the taxi conglomerates was broken and meter taxi's became pretty much the only taxi service the public would use. If the government did that in phuket it would eventually break the back of the taxi mafia. Green plate taxi's would all but disappear. If the market was open and the fares double that of Bangkok like they are proposing then I wouldn't be surprised to see hundreds if not thousands of Bangkok taxis relocate to phuket. The green plate guys wouldn't stand a chance.
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The basic facts are indisputable, the land in question was part of a national park and now it isn't. That didn't happen by magic, the land office had to facilitate it. Did it happen 10, 20, 30 years ago or when the current director was in short pants ? Who knows? The fact remains that it happened, and now we'll see if anything is going to be done about it.
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Personally I wouldn't go for the Elite card, if under 50 and independently wealthy enough to retire in Thailand without ever having to work again. Perhaps the original one at B1million for life and no monthly dues but not the current one for 20 years at B2million plus B20,000 annual fees. Anyway it was a Thaksin brain child that has cost the taxpayer a bundle with a lot of leakage and was about to be axed by the Abhisit govt when they lost the election and revived by Yingluck. It could be axed at any time. I would rather sink B10million into a condo (of some in a condo and the balance in govt bonds) and get annual investment extensions.
I have just seen that there is no a B500k Easy Access 5-year elite card. I might consider that option but would still prefer the investment visa, if I had the B10million. You would be grandfathered in at B10million, if they were to increase it, as happened when it went back up to B10million from the temporary rate of B3million, but the Elite card is a political issue that could get torpedoed without much notice. It is easy to justify terminating it because it is loss making and prone to corruption, while there is only a very small number of holders, whereas there is no cost to the taxpayer from the investment extensions and the benefits are clear cut. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Elite card scrapped and a longer-term investment visa issued in its place like the Malaysian scheme.
I have no problem buying a 5 year elite card for 500k as it saves lots of money and time on unnecessary travel which more than pays for itself in just a couple of years in my case but I would have serious reservations about investing 10 Million Baht in the available overpriced property in Thailand. In fact I have no plans to ever buy any property in Thailand. The whole industry is full of overpriced scammers, lawyers who randomly steal your property, etc.
Now they're cracking down on people doing these back to back visas I suspect a lot of people will opt for the 500k Elite Easy Access membership.
I've done a 1 year Ed visa, many tourist visas and plenty of visa exempt entries over the past few years. Just doing the travel was very tedious and it can easily cost more than 100k a year, especially if you add 1 business class trip a year back to Europe or the US to get a triple entry tourist visa which generally isn't available in Asia.
I had no idea the Easy Access membership was available until very recently. When I found out about it on this forum I applied and had the visa within a month. I then cancelled a planned trip to Europe which saved me 150,000 Baht so I'm already ahead.
In my opinion even in the highly unlikely event that they cancel the Elite program which has been running for 11 years now if you already have the visa you can continue to use it regardless of whether they are issuing new memberships or not.
I would agree with your last sentence. The 5 year visa is issued by the ministry of foreign affairs. TPC the 100% government owned company that runs Elite only introduces the individual and takes a cut of the fees which they use to provide some additional services. Other than the initial fee there are no financial, age, marriage, or educational requirements to be met. You just show up once a year and get a new stamp.
If you buy this program once the visa is in your passport then your risk of continued residence lies with the ministry of foreign affairs not TPC. Your risk with TPC may be that u lose your free limo rides and cheap golf but not your visa.
Honestly the government should drop the association with the "elite" name and just call it a 5 year long stay visa that costs 500k. TPC could still manage the process for the government. That would stop all the moaning from people who think the world should change to accommodate their individual circumstances like "there's no visa for me under 50" , " it's a ripoff, & this thing can go bust " etc etc
Everyone could then sleep peacefully with the knowledge that "yes, Thailand does have a visa for me, I just need to meet the criteria whether it's age, marriage, educational or financial and I can stay there" if I can't meet the criteria then it's not Thailand's problem - it's mine "
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I wasn't a fan of military rule at first but I have to say I'm warming up to the Junta. They really are making an effort to clean up Thailand.
If you're Thai then I'm happy for you but if you're not Thai then be careful what you wish for. Remember the primary mandate of any military in any country is to protect citizens and the borders of the country against foreigners. The single most xenophobic organization in any country is its military - that's their job description.
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The irony of it is that if these people complain ( and can prove ) about the brown envelopes they've been handing over then they are actually confessing to a crime of bribing a government official . That's 2-5 years in the slammer while the government official gets a wrist slap and moved to an inactive post.
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It would be simple to ask the current land occupants to show documented proof of their right to occupy the land and follow the paper/money trail. The solution is simple if it's public land then they shouldn't be there. It only becomes complex When someone influential or in an official position is receiving 5mln baht per year per rai ( or par of it) which if it became public knowledge could really upset the apple cart.
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For my kitchen in Bangkok I used Asia cuccina , they have a showroom in Phuket. When I was looking for a kitchen for my place down here I visited their showroom in phuket town and they said that everything is made in the same factory as Bangkok.
For my place in Phuket I ended up buying a show kitchen from another company in Bangkok and shipping it down. The company had an arrangement with a contractor here who installed it. The contractor just does cabinets and plumbing and he bought in a different guy to do the electrical and hydraulics ( part of the center island moves up and down).
For some cost estimates , The cabinets in my Bkk kitchen cost 900k from Asia Cucina. Appliances were extra. It's a big kitchen with 5m cabinets either side down 2 walls and a center island 1.2m x 2.4m. It's a nice kitchen and the workmanship is excellent.
Having said that I would probably not get a custom kitchen again. When I was shopping for my phuket kitchen I ran across many stores selling their display kitchens at 40-60% discounts. If you can make it work in your space then they are seriously worth looking at. The kitchen I ended up buying was originally 1.2 million and I paid 400k plus another 50k for shipping and installation.
Most high end Bangkok stores will ship to phuket and arrange installation.
Finally at the cheaper end of the spectrum my GF just installed an IKEA kitchen in her place in Chiang Mai. It's an L shaped kitchen around 6m total length. Total cost including sink, hob, extractor etc. was around 110k . Shipping was around 10k and local installation 10k . I don't know how it will hold up over time but it's a pretty nice looking kitchen and it seemed to me well constructed.
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I drove past Lotus on Thursday and it was business as usual from what I could see from the road. A small group of tourists was leaving and a few taxi drivers milling around the entrance.
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Thanks for the replies. I couldn't find exactly what we needed but ended up finding a product at central that essentially does the same job.
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Yeah I saw it. I tried calling them before I made the trek down but I got the run around so they may or may not have them.
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Would anybody know where to get one of these in phuket. It's shaped like a big U or a big C from what I know.
Many thanks
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My GF faced a similar problem when building her house. She wanted to build up to the property line and her neighbor complained so she checked with the local tessabarn and was told that any structure built must be 50 cm from the property line. She adjusted her plan to comply.
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Yeah, that Nikki one REALLY looks out of place in that National Park.
That one is the straw that broke the camel's back IMO.
The land that Nikki and the thai restaurant beside it are on is on a chanote owned by a Bangkok family. The national park starts on the other side. Historically the land was for sale a a huge price and I think Nikki leased half of it.
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Yes Badgerbaily please share a link or pm if you can
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Yes there was a debate but nothing ever came of it . The government worked out that it was cheaper to recapitalize the program and restructure it by cutting back on some of the freebee benefits. So that's what they did.
Now this new Elite Lite will provide further funding to make it more sustainable. In addition they are more active marketing paying services to members which provide additional income.
At the time the article happened thai elite contacted all the members ( of which I am one ) and told them that nothing had been decided and that our visas would not be affected but the likelihood would be some kind of restructuring where some benefits may be limited.
I think the new elite lite program is a great alternative for financially independent under 50's. That being said if you're smart enough to become financially independent under 50!then your smart enough to realize there are risks involved with most things so it's up to each individual to decide whether their comfortable with those risks. As with everything in life, don't invest more that your prepared to lose.
Cheers
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No there was lots of talk about it but it's still going. They reduced som golf and spa freebees but nothing else changed.
I was r
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There are risks in everything. But I think losing your visa is very limited.
The visa is issued by the foreign ministry not thai elite and is for 5 years, once it's in your passport it's there. They could shut the program but I doubt if the foreign ministry would invalidate the visa.
That's just my opinion and as you know opinions are like (deleted), everyone has one.
In any event it's valid option for people under 50. Just like other visa classes terms and conditions do apply, If a person is able and willing to meet those conditions then they can get a long stay visa . It may not conform to everybody's personal risk profile and economic situation but it's there as an option for under 50's who want to reside long tern in Thailand.
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For those under 50 I would think the new Elite Lite visa is the answer.
At around usd15.000 it works out to $3,000 per year. You can offset that cost against the all the visa run costs over a twelve month period as you never have to leave the country, and if you take into account the value of your own time then I would think its worth the marginal increase over multiple visa runs . Not to mention you won't have to worry about being barred entry .
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This may be applicable to the swimming pool forum but I am looking for a local contractor thus the posting here.
I have a plunge pool (4x2m) on the balcony of my condo that I would like to retrofit with a jacuzzi and air blower. I know this would be a major job and very expensive but I would very much like to get it done. I asked my current pool guy and he said that the power line connecting the pump and filter may not be strong enough. Whatever that means.
I know retrofitting will probably be more expensive than building from scratch, but I have to work around the current design and I'm ok with that.
Can anyone recommend a contractor with a good reputation that has experience in building spas and doing quality work.
Thanks
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Looks like ex-pats that have families and/or home in Thailand, but work overseas on a rotation such as 10 weeks on 2 weeks off, 30 days on 30 days off, will no longer be able to use the visa free entry. I did this for 10 years and saved a lot of money and hassle. The new policy means that expats based here but working offshore will have to apply for a 1 year Visa.
Personally I believe that the current clamp down has more to do with the recent removal of a senior immigration officer who was involved in arranging "Ghost Visa Runs" and extensions, whereby the passport holder did not leave Thailand and re-enter.
Finally someone else is connecting the dots.
2 weeks ago one of the most senior Immigration police generals is transferred to an inactive post for...... wait for it... facilitating a visa run scam.
Fast forward 2 weeks and there is a crackdown on......... visa runs...... HELLO
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What a load of rubbish !!!! lol
this "Visa Crackdown" is only ONE THING: its to get 1000 baht from as many tourists as possible!!!
the Malaysian Missing Plane is a convenient story for them to hide under.
how much more secure is a 60 days tourist visa (compared to a 15 or 30 day free visa?????
in BOTH situations they process the details on your passport.
The 60 days tourist visa costs 1000 and you get a nice shiny sticker.
the 15 or 30 day visa is FREE and you have no sticker.
but the immigration computer is updated the SAME (with your SAME passport details).
so how can they say this is a security measure...
if only they could admit it and say its a MONEY MAKING SCHEME!!! Lol
PS: I have no problems about this as I dont mind doing visa-runs every 3 or 6 months.
in reality its not so hard for all the back-2-back visa runners to get a real visa.
I think it's a load or rubbish as well but they have to think of something to blame it on.
More than likely it has something to do with the Police General and Police Major from Immigration that were transferred to inactive posts 2 weeks ago for owning or having shares in a company that was a front for a visa run scam.
They're cleaning house after these two guys were caught gaming they system and now Joe Farang the visa runner is just collateral damage.
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The real nut here is the charge of terrorism.
Basically that opens the doors for all OECD and FATF compliant banks and institutions to freeze Thaksins assets. (Even Swiss banks are fully compliant with the UN security council resolutions on supression and prevention of financing of terror acts)
The Thai govenment will need to request all countries to comply so it really depend how far they are prepared to take things.
Interested parties can google FATF + financing terrorism - its all out there.
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Red leadership wants to leave but cant as they have to pay protesters the other half of the cash when they go home. 5,000 new protesters fro K.K are just coming back to get paid.
They dont want amnesty from government - they want Govt protection from protesters they short changed.
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Central Chidlom has execlent lamb, you can pick the cut you want and the guys behind the counter will mince it for you while you wait. If you want them to trim the fat first they will just tell them and they'll do it.
I wanted some topside mince burgers the other day and they took 2 topside steaks, ground them and put them in the burger press for me - they were delicious.
Also if you buy a lot they will discount for you. Just ask the Australian manager.
Old taxi terror culture lingers on in minds of Phuket’s drivers
in Phuket News
Posted
Initially we'll probably see some turf battles but after a bit when they have a multitude of meter taxis prowling their neighborhoods they won't be able to protect their turf even if they wanted too.